Two Articles from the West Australian today - neither good reading

[chook]

The club will hold an all-in meeting to quiz players about what happened during the barbecue.

Someone forgot the pesto but that didn't detract from the delicate flavour of BBQ'ed quokka. Plenty of sauces were available however.

[inactive]

i love how things get blown out of proportion before a proper enquiry has been made and tarnishes the clubs involved!!

I hate media!

[GIGS20]

Actually,I'm thinking all this bullshit publicity mightn't be such a bad thing. It's not a bad thing for a rugby team to have somebody to hate. I think the crap that is being flung around might be perfect for a well advised sport psychologist to use as motivation. Expect the boys to train the house down until March and blast the shit out of all the Australian teams as payback.

[Mtbeaver]

Who cares...

[jazza93]

The Rottnest Island Authority has confirmed it received a complaint from tourists that players from the State’s top rugby union team were “hammer throwing” the protected animals on Friday night

hammer throwing, what a great BBQ.


on the tv, they said that 4 players from interstate picked up the animals and put them back down.

[bort]

aj hammerthrowing a quokka would be a decent sight. but i understand why it could cause problems, we wouldnt want him accidentally hammerthrowing those rodents onto the mainland

[GIGS20]

Surely a quokka is a better shape for a lineout throw anyway, that stubby little tail would make a crap hammer leash!

[Thequeerone]

Hmm counted the news items on 10 and 7 last night
10: Quokka story - main news - Rotto policeman saying it wasn't as serious as first reported - full investigation etc..
10: Gitts bad attempt at kicking soccer ball with Becks
10: New Kiwi lad - who made the journalists laugh when he said he had to ring Mitch back because he couldn't take in fully what Mitch had said
7:Quokka thing - young interstate players not knowing you don't touch the quokka i.e. being daft (nice angle !)
7:Becks thing no up close of Gitts
7:New lad

So from a Force point of view - an average of 2.5 mentions throughout the show - not bad !

[James]

There is another one from Rugby Heaven:

Wild west: where there's smoke, there's fire
Jacquelin Magnay | November 27, 2007

ALARM bells should be ringing when there are repeated stories that Western Force rugby union players are "alleged" to have done something. It is a legal term to emphasise that the charges, complaints or allegations have not been tested in court. But what is going on across the Nullarbor that the players or officials are alleged to have done something, or anything, so constantly that the alleged dramas are blurring into one big, embarrassing mess?

Yesterday, the alleged offences were ugly and spanned the continent. In the west, the local police were confirming that, yes, there had been complaints levelled against Western Force players for allegedly mistreating the cute marsupials native to Rottnest Island, the quokkas. Mistreatment of fellow players is one thing, but harming cute, defenceless marsupials, even allegedly, is another.

Stories have emerged of players allegedly swinging the quokkas by their tails. The players allegedly involved risk $10,000 fines, but their penalty in the court of public opinion will be much more severe.

Western Force club spokesman Tom Baddeley said Monday afternoon was the first opportunity the club had to speak with the players about the incident that allegedly occurred on Friday night and was reported to authorities on Saturday morning. Funny that Monday was the same time the story was picked up by the media. Obviously, time moves slowly across the Nullarbor.

On the same day as that nasty quokka allegation surfaced, the Herald reported that two players were being investigated by Western Australia and NSW police over an alleged assault of a former Western Force employee, who had the balls to tell the players to pay for their own bar tab following a 16-16 draw with the Waratahs in March. The players deny the allegation.

Yet around the same time another assault allegation against Force player Matt Henjak was being settled, with a $16,000 payment wired to South Africa to an alleged victim of an alleged Henjak hit outside of a nightclub who dropped civil charges and withdrew a complaint to the police.

I wonder what club sponsors - Emirates, Woodside, MBF, Tooheys New, Vodafone et al - think of their money possibly being spent on legal fees, secret payments, ARU fines and donations to wildlife societies?

Memo to Force officials: the bells are tolling louder than ever.

Someone needs to light a fire under her ass. There seem to be three current issues regarding the Force at the moment.

1) Mistreatment of a quokka- the issue is currently settled. Rangers are satisfired that no quokkas were hurt and ignorance was to blame for at worst distressing a few poor quokkas. Whats the bet Magnay has never even seen a quokka before?

2) Payment of Henjak's fine 'in secret'- O'Meara claims he was in communication with Rob Clarke the then man in charge. Matt Carroll says the ARU didn't know anything about it. Rob Clarke was not consulted (at least by the media anyway) so unless Carroll had private words he is just shooting his mouth off. In the end $16,000 dollars was paid out for Henjak which is a fraction of the $110,000 general protocol cap on player salaries. It's hardly a big deal.

3) Players allegedly assaulting David Round- Round made no complaint at the time (therefore it can't have been that serious if its assault its at least got to be a broken nose or a black eye or a cracked rib or something that actually hurts). The complaint seems only to have arisen since he is being taken to court by the Force. He is hardly a reliable source since he broke a promise in his confidentiality agreement.

Doesn't she get it they are "alleged" because its pretty bloody flimsy to start with. You could allege anything doesn't make it true especially if it is reported in the Herald. The Herald's stuff is getting sickeningly (even more so than usual) one-eyed and lacks any form of objectiveness. I wonder what the Force did to piss her off. Did she pursue so vehemently when Mat Rogers assaulted someone in England in 2002? When Justin Harrison was done for racism? When Wendel Sailor was caught doing drugs? One every occasion Lote screws up? Hmmm let me see now NO.

Memo to Jacquelin Magnay: Shut the **** up! Bitch!

[hopep]

Now James, its probably a slow week in sports news so lets not lash out and shoot the messenger. She may be ill-informed but the fact that there have been 3 different stories bearing bad publicity for the Force in the space of a week is a concern.
Yes - they are minor incidents and singularly could be regarded as irrelevant.
What potentailly damages the public percpetion and reputation of the Force (esp to sponsors) is the accumulation effect.

Yes, they are all likely to turn into 'nothings' - but they have already done some damage.
The Force management should be going through every staff members, not just players, closet and checking for potential skeleton. As with the David Round thing, it still bad publicity but at least the Club is on the front foot by putting it out there first.

All will blow over in time. Relax and concentrate on the rugby.

[Darren]

We all know that the SMH is a sponsor of the Waratahs - anything they print about any other team is tainted by this very fact alone.

They are merely commentators and have LESS credibility than anyone on this forum - including even Force1, at least his "leaks", unethical as they are, may have been based (however loosely) on facts ...

RugbyHeaven? I don't think so....

[AndyS]

You know, I'd like to think she was just a dizzy cow pushing some SMH line a little hard, but I can't. As I see it:

1. The Force gets a search warrant and Round gets raided
2. She (or SMH) gets the wind up that, by publishing what Round leaked, they might be held to have some culpability (a la channel 7 and those player medical records earlier in the year)
3. In the next week we have "The Force paid someone off", "Players assaulted someone" and fortuitously "Players molested small animals". In each case, Jacquelin Magnay directly or co-authored the story
4. Now she has an editorial piece containing the classic line "Alarm bells should be ringing when there are repeated stories that Western Force rugby union players are "alleged" to have done something", when she is the person who generated most of the stories.

Anyone else thinking smokescreen?

What I find interesting is that they were able to run the pay-off story with the ARU already lined up to say they knew nothing about it - makes me wonder how much heads up or even involvement Carroll has had in the Magnay/Ryle pursuit of the Force. Other things I find interesting are that:

• You can apparently pay your bar tab with someone elses credit card in Sydney, as even corporate cards are name specific
• Hearsay is clearly adequate research for Jacquelin Magnay, unless she herself spoke to the tourist/witness who complained about handling of the quokkas
• Time clearly moves very slowly on her planet, as she is filing stories about players using "quokkas as missiles" the day after AAP and other SMH staff (Ryle even!) have filed a story quoting the Rottnest authorities as saying "There were no injuries to quokkas, or mistreatment''.

[The InnFORCEr]

By Tim Clarke 20:10 AEST Mon Nov 26 2007
AAA

Four Western Force players will be fined $100 each after admitting to handling a protected quokka during a team bonding session on Western Australia's Rottnest Island.

However, allegations players may have mistreated the animal by "hammer throwing" one of the marsupials by the tail have been refuted by the club and the island authority.

Following lurid headlines last weekend of assault allegations, secret hush payments and bitter legal feuding, the Force were forced to defend themselves against more unusual claims at training.

After a team bonding camp at Rottnest on Friday and Saturday, team manager Richard Trend said some of the players who had never seen a quokka before had become "curious" and picked up one of the animals.

However, after WA police and island rangers became involved after a report of possible mistreatment, the club called an all-in meeting to quiz players about what happened.

After threatening internal disciplinary action for any players involved, a club statement later said they were satisfied no player had mistreated a quokka.

However, the four players who admitted picking up the animals will get infringement notices from the Rottnest Island Authority, meaning a $100 fine.

"Four players have admitted to picking up quokkas and putting them down again," the Force said.

"Two of the players advised the committee that they were unaware it was against island regulations to pick up a quokka.

"The issue is now a matter for island authorities and we will assist with their inquiries."

Acting senior ranger Matt Verney said they were satisfied no quokkas had been harmed, and the infringement came about through curiosity and ignorance.

"There were no injuries to quokkas, or mistreatment," Verney said.

"Even the people who go to pet quokkas, and try and pick them up and cuddle them, they are found to have interfered with the fauna.

"It is a common act, and a common regulation we use. There is no malicious thing - they just wanted to pick them up and have a look."

The latest controversy came after a series of allegations, involving a writ against former CFO David Round, and his counter allegation players assaulted him in Sydney last year.

Fairfax newspapers reported police were investigating allegations Matt Henjak and another player accosted the former employee in a bar, seized a company credit card, and then used it to settle a bar tab.

The allegations are denied by Henjak and the Force.

Previous reports also suggested the Force made secret payments to a South African national who then withdrew assault allegations involving Henjak while he was on tour with the ACT Brumbies in 2004.

The outstanding legal matter would have made it difficult for Henjak to play in the Force's Super 14 matches in South Africa, as he could have been sought for questioning by South African police.

While the Force do not deny the payment occurred, they said the ARU was fully aware of it.

The Force board was due to meet to discuss the latest wave of negative publicity, and to decide the future of the civil action against Round.

A writ lodged in September accuses round of breaking confidentiality agreements.

[lmaag]

Two Articles from the West Australian today - neither good reading

Wouldn't that be a record for the West. I find that all their articles aren't particularly good reading. Are they lifting their standards?

[chook]

The Force are being shown as the big smelly bullies that they are. The pristine atmosphere at SMH would never allow biased commentating, its just not cricket.